CESR Publishes The 8th Update Of The Prospectus Q&A, Including CESR's View On Employee Shares Schemes

The European Commission wrote to CESR on 18 July 2007 to request that regulators should adopt a common 'light-touch' approach to share offers to employees under the Prospectus Directive and Prospectus Regulation.

Following the Commission’s request, CESR published a statement in December 2007 (CESR/07-825) stating that it was its intention to analyse the possibility of agreeing a short-form disclosure regime for offers to the employees in those cases where a prospectus is required and requesting market participants views. In particular, CESR stated that it would discuss the application of Article 23.4 of the Prospectus Regulation with the aim of permitting the omission of certain information requirements contained in the Annexes, on the basis that they may not be pertinent to the specific case of an offer to employees.

In trying to find a solution, CESR has established a number of key questions, included in today's update.The solution described in these Q&A is a temporary one, pending the amendment of the Prospectus Directive on the issue of offers to the employees in those cases where a prospectus is required, which will be proposed by the Commission. CESR might revisit the proposal published today in light of the Commission’s proposal. This approach has been welcomed by the Commission.